The leader of Hezbollah has vowed a fight with “no rules and with no red lines” if a full-scale war erupts between the Lebanese militant group and Israel, cautioning Cyprus against becoming embroiled in the conflict. Lebanon and Israel have frequently exchanged cross-border fire since the onset of Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Like Hezbollah, Hamas is backed by Iran. Tensions escalated after an Israeli airstrike last week killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Taleb Sami Abdullah, along with three other operatives.
In a televised speech at the commander’s memorial service on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned, “Israel knows very well that no place will be safe from our missiles and drones” if war breaks out between the neighboring states. His comments were broadcasted by the Hezbollah-aligned al-Manar TV news outlet. Nasrallah also claimed that Hezbollah has acquired new weapons but did not provide specifics. The group is known to use rockets, anti-tank missiles, and Burkan heavy warhead rockets, which are modeled after Iranian Ababil drones, according to Seth Frantzman, an adjunct fellow at the U.S.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.
Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah’s numbers have now “far exceeded 100,000 fighters,” following his 2021 statement that they had reached that threshold. The secretive nature of the group, which wields significant political, military, and social influence in Lebanon, makes these figures difficult to verify. Lebanon’s formal military forces are estimated to have around 80,000 personnel, according to data portal IndexMundi.
The Hezbollah leader also threatened Cyprus with war if the European Union member allows Israel to launch military operations from its territory. Nasrallah accused Israel of “conducting maneuvers in preparation for the Lebanon war” in Cyprus, without revealing his sources. “I say that the Cypriot government must be careful because opening airports for the enemy to attack Lebanon means that Cyprus is part of the war and we will deal with it as part of the war,” Nasrallah said, according to a Google translation of al-Manar.
Cyprus has denied these accusations but has increased defense cooperation with Israel, participating in joint military exercises as recently as May 2023. In response to Nasrallah’s remarks, Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides emphasized on Wednesday that his country is not involved in the conflict and is, in fact, part of the solution, according to the Cyprus News Agency. Reporters have contacted the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comments on whether Cypriot sites are being used for Israeli military activities.
Nasrallah’s speech has heightened tensions, with the recent surge in missile exchanges between Israel and Lebanon raising fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East. Earlier this week, Hezbollah released a video purportedly showing military sites in the Israeli port city of Haifa, allegedly captured by its surveillance drones. In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated, and decisions were taken on the continuation of increasing the readiness of troops in the field,” though they did not detail the scope of the initiative or whether it would involve deploying troops across the border. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also indicated that the country is “very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
Efforts by the United States to de-escalate the conflict and advance its peace framework for Gaza have so far been unsuccessful. Senior White House envoy Amos Hochstein met with leaders in Israel and Lebanon earlier this week to discuss these issues.
